Arroyo pauses in her speech as magnitude-6.1 quake jolts Cagayan

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was in the middle of her speech in Cagayan when the earth suddenly shook Tuesday morning. She immediately stiffened, then paused in her speech, which dealt with the government's agriculture projects in the said northern Luzon province, according to radio dzMM. What Mrs. Arroyo felt beneath her feet was a magnitude-6.1 earthquake that struck the area at 10:51 a.m., according to the government-run Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs). The tremor's epicenter was traced some 130 kilometers north of Cagayan province's Tuguegarao City, Phivolcs said. It was the third significant quake of tectonic origin that hit the Philippines since the magnitude-8.8 tremor shook Chile last February 27. A magnitude-5.1 quake rocked parts of Batanes in extreme northern Luzon shortly after midnight Sunday. On Monday, a magnitude-5.0 tremor jolted parts of Davao Oriental province. Tuesday’s earthquake was felt at Intensity V in Cagayan's Sta. Ana and Aparri towns; at Intensity IV in Vigan, Ilocos Sur; Intensity III in Laoag and Pasuqin, Ilocos Norte, Palanan in Isabela, and Tuguegarao City; Intenisty II in Albano, Isabela; and Intensity I at the Manila Ocean Park in Manila. Phivolcs director Renato Solidum assured the public that the seismic disturbance would not pose any danger to life and properties, let alone trigger a tsunami in the seas. "Hind po masyadong malakas ito. Dapat siguro mga [magnitude] 7, maliit na tsunami pa nga iyon. (It's not that strong. Even with a magnitude-7 quake, only small tsunamis are created.)," Solidum told radio dzBB in an interview on Tuesday. Gov. Alvaro Antonio said the earthquake did not wreak havoc in the province and the locals did not even panic. He said he was attending a program when the quake struck. "Wala namang epekto ang lindol na nangyari... Mild lang iyon. It took only about 15 seconds na medyo naramdaman ang lindol iyon (The quake had no adverse effect. It was only mild. It was only felt for 15 seconds)," Antonio told dzBB in a separate interview on Tuesday. "Nasa programa ako kanina, punung-puno ang stadium na pinangyarihan ng programa. The full-packed stadium, nobody panicked (I was at a program a while ago, the stadium was jam-packed and nobody panicked)," he said. - MARK D. MERUEÑAS/ARCS, RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV